Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter.


Ron and Ginny are in an intense game of wizards chess, Harry watching while Hermione works on her Werewolf essay, suddenly she gasps.

"Oh!"

"Hermione?" Harry asks, she looks up at him, then her eyes widen and she points at him.

"Oh! Oh oh oh! Oh I get it! Oh…oh dear…but that means he…that ruddy coward!" Ginny and Ron turn away from their game to look at her in shock, she glares at her essay, "Where are Fred and Geo-no, better yet…excuse me. I have to go and find Peeves," She tells them with a rather evil glint in her eyes before she gets up and walks out of the common room, "I would suggest you all remain here and travel in groups to ensure an alibi for the next few days," She adds, "And steer clear of Snape." She shuts the Portrait behind her.

"What just happened?" Ron questions, Harry shrugs, Ginny looks at Hermione's essay thoughtfully, but then shakes her head.

"No idea, but I expect Snape will be finding out before we do."

"So we just…wait?" Harry asks, Ginny frowns.

"Spose we better start those essays ourselves," Ron mutters, glaring at it and looking like he'd rather be doing anything else.

"Tell you what, Ron, if you beat me in this match, I'll do both your essays for you, and if I win, you have to do my transfiguration assignment, deal?" Ginny asks, Ron looks at her suspiciously, Harry likes the sound of the deal.

Ginny makes a fatal mistake in the chess game and loses. Suddenly, Lupin isn't the only one Ron's keeping an eye on.


"Professor Moony!" Hermione calls, jogging down the corridor to catch him as he leaves his office.

"Hermione, I don't mean to be rude but I was just on my way to see the Headmast–"

"I know why you've been missing clasess," She interrupts, he looks at her calculatingly before giving a strained smile.

"Ah." He gestures to his office, she walks in and takes a seat at his desk. He shuts the door before sitting in his own chair, "How did you work it out?"

"I was curious about your frequent disappearances, so is tarted counting the weeks between them. Then Professor Snape set an essay about Werewolves…I only worked it out when I read that scars made by Werewolves always remain visible," She tells him stiltedly, the last part coming out a tad sheepish, he nods slowly, "The name 'Moony' was also a bit of a clue."

"Hermione I understand if you are uncomfortable with the idea of my teaching he-"

"No, Professor, I'm not." Remus raises an eyebrow.

"You are not?"

"No." She fidgets a bit, "This is why you didn't take Harry in, isn't it?" Remus seems sad, nodding warily, "I couldn't work out why you wouldn't at least talk to him, but I think I know now. You're ashamed. You're ashamed of what you are and you thought by letting him forget about you you were doing him a favour. You thought his life would be better without a Werewolf about, right?" Remus doesn't respond, but he doesn't really need to, "You were wrong Professor," She tells him strongly, "Have you ever met his Aunt and Uncle?"

"I met his Aunt a few times but only ever briefly, I met Vernon once." Hermione nods.

"I don't believe anyone can meet them even once and not realise they are horrible people. They are horrible to him and he deserves better." Remus seems pained, "My point is, Professor, no matter what happens you are not leaving him again. His best interests at heart or not, you haven't helped him. So, you are going to promise me something, right here, right now. You are going to promise that should something go wrong, you will fight to keep this position so that you can be here for Harry. No being resigned to things going terribly, no running away again, and no letting your own abysmal sense of self-worth prevent you from being Harry's Uncle. To do anything else will be entirely selfish, and if you are willing to do that, then perhaps Harry really is better off without you." Remus looks completely gobsmacked, she sort of feels the same way, did she really just say all that to a teacher?

"Hermione, you do not understand what the world is like for people like me."

"DAMN WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE FOR YOU!" She yells, he jolts back in surprise, "YOU SHOULD SEE WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE FOR HIM!" She breathes heavily as she watches him, "You are not the only one with scars," She says, far quieter, "That boy, your nephew, has more than his fair share as well. If you leave him again, it will not be for his benefit, it will be you running away in fear. You being a coward. So, either promise to be there for him, or don't be here now. He deserves better than to be let down again. So if it's going to happen, I'd rather get it over with now, before Black tries to murder him again only for him to discover that the one he thought he could count on isn't there." Remus' eyes fill with tears, he turns away, wiping at the discreetly.

"You remind me of his Mother, you know. Lily gave me a speech rather like that one many years ago."

"Well I hope I was more convincing," She tells him, unsure how to deal with being compared to The Lily Potter, "Or at the very least that you'll decide to listen to me anyway." Remus finally turns back to her, nodding.

"I promise, I won't leave him if I can help it. But if…the nature of my condition were to get out, there may be nothing I can do. If what you've said about Snape's essay is true then…" She smiles disarmingly.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." He frowns, she shrugs, "I just think he might find himself a bit too busy to give you a second thought."

"This conversation is causing me great concern."

"On an unrelated note," She says in a tone showing it will be anything but unrelated, "I was talking to Peeves earlier. Noticed you two seem to get along better than anyone ever gets along with him, even he had noticed Snape giving you a hard time." Remus tries not to smile, he really does, he fails.

"Harry's lucky to have you, Hermione." Hermione nods.

"Yes, he is. He's lucky to have you too. I don't know a lot of people who love someone so much they'd leave them like you did. But now you need to love him enough to stay. For you, I think, that may prove more difficult." Remus nods seriously.

"I'm not going anywhere." Hermione nods, once, satisfied.

"Good."


"The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things Dementors feed upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive – but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementor cannot hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" Harry asks, hanging on his Uncle's every word.

"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."

"And how do you conjure it?"

"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating with all your might, on a single, very happy memory." Harry frowns, thinking. He wracks his brain for his happiest memory, immediately trying to think of ones with his parents or his Uncles. The problem is, all of them feel tainted somehow. Whether by Black, Voldemort, or Harry himself, he has no idea. Only that, he doesn't think any of them will work. Out of options, he settles for the first time he rode a broom.

It doesn't work.

He tries the moment Gryffindor won the house cup last year, that doesn't work either.

"I heard my Dad," Harry mumbles as he wakes up from fainting again, "That's the first time I've ever heard him because of a Dementor – he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it…" Harry trails off, vaguely realising he's crying. He tries to hide it, but a quick look at his Uncle shows his eyes are shining too.

"You heard James?" Harry nods, Remus seems very conflicted. It's then that Harry realises something. He's not the only one who knows about Black, and in trying to save his Uncle from a hard conversation, he may just have isolated himself and his Uncle from the only people left who can understand them.

"I know who Sirius Black is." Remus looks at him in confusion, "To me. I know who he is to me."

"W-What are you talking about?" Remus asks, voice wavering slightly, Harry takes a deep breath before walking closer.

"I know that he's my…was my Uncle Padfoot, and my God-Father." Remus looks away, not quick enough to hide the pained expression from his nephew, "I don't blame you, Uncle Moony. I-I really don't know why you do, but I don't."

"I don't blame myself Harry, I know none of what happened was my fault. I merely regret that I couldn't have done more. But I could never have predicted he'd…" Remus sighs, leaning against a desk.

"I remember you two were really close. I don't remember ever seeing one of you without the other, and I remember Mum teasing you two about it and you claiming not be attached at the hip, so I know this can't be easy for you. I-It's not easy for me either. I mean, he wants to kill me. I just…I thought maybe it would be better if we both knew we weren't alone in this."

"Oh Harry," Remus says, finally turning back around and immediately embracing the teenager, "Harry you aren't alone. I am so sorry you were, I never should have left. But you won't be alone, not ever again, not so long as I have a say in it."

"He won't stop trying to kill me because you ask nicely, Uncle Moony." Remus nods.

"I know. That's why I won't ask nicely."

Harry doesn't question what he means by that.

After his conversation with Hermione, Remus realised he can't tell Dumbledore about Padfoot, not without risking his position within the school. But Harry is right, Sirius won't stop hunting him. So Remus will just have to track him down himself. And really, knowing him so well, how hard can that be?


During their next Anti-Dementor lesson, Harry again fails to produce a Patronus, and the memory of his parents' murders is getting more vivid.

This time, he sees it too, and what he sees changes everything.

His Mother screams, Harry sees a flash of green light, feels the power wash over him and knows, even within his infant mind, that this is true evil. It hurts, it burns his soul, and then it goes, leaving Harry wailing in its wake.

A man enters the room when the other is forced out, Harry sees his Mummy on the ground and doesn't understand why she chose to sleep there.

"Unc Worm!" Harry cries, Peter looks at him, fear on his face.

"How could he have failed?"

"…Harry!" Harry gasps as he wakes up, looking at Remus in the face, frightened.

"It wasn't Padfoot."

"What are you talking about Harry?"

"It wasn't Uncle Padfoot who was working for Voldemort. I remember it, I remember that night. The traitor, he was there too, but it wasn't Sirius Black." Remus frowns even as his eyes widen, the implications of it all slowly setting in.

"But then – who?" Harry bites his lip, feeling bile rise in the back of his throat as tears fall freely down his face. Somehow, he just knows, this will break his Uncle in ways Harry can't understand. But what choice does he have? He can't let Sirius go back to Azkaban, he's innocent! And that damned rat, 'How could he have failed' the traitor walked past the bodies of two of his best friends, and that's all he has to say to Harry? To the boy he orphaned? No. He won't get away with this.

"Wormtail."